Search results matching tags 'Management' and 'Writing'http://sqlblog.com/search/SearchResults.aspx?o=DateDescending&tag=Management,Writing&orTags=0Search results matching tags 'Management' and 'Writing'en-USCommunityServer 2.1 SP2 (Build: 61129.1)The Year That Was - 2012http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2012/12/31/the-year-that-was-2012.aspxMon, 31 Dec 2012 19:31:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:46909KKline<p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">2012 was, simply stated, a year that kicked my butt. &nbsp;When I wasn't struggling professionally, I was struggling personally. &nbsp;Health issues, culminating in a diagnosis of Type II diabetes, and the passing of my father soon after Thanksgiving marked my biggest struggles. &nbsp;I apologize to those of you who are normally on my Christmas card list for not sending any this year. The wind was not in my sails. &nbsp;On the positive side of the ledger, I made a scary but exciting leap to&nbsp;<a title="SQL Server and Windows Tools for the IT Professional that Knows Better" href="http://sqlsentry.net/">SQL Sentry</a>&nbsp;midyear. This was a huge shake-up after 10 years with my previous employer, but one which has been met with unbridled enthusiasm everywhere I've gone. &nbsp;Thank you for the handshakes, high-fives, and hugs! &nbsp;We're doing some really exciting things at SQL Sentry (such as&nbsp;<a href="http://sqlperformance.com/">SQLPerformance.com</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a title="SQL Sentry Plan Explorer and Plan Explorer Pro" href="http://www.sqlsentry.net/plan-explorer/sql-server-query-view.asp">Plan Explorer Pro</a>) and I hope to engage with you more than ever in 2013.</p><h2 style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">Blogging Activity, Plus Leadership Skills &amp; Professionalism</h2><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">2012 marked a bit of a shift in my content creation direction. &nbsp;I've seen an uptick in struggles in the non-IT part of our career - communications, leadership, motivation, goal-keeping, all of those sort of things. &nbsp;I feel like I have some wisdom to contribute in that space. &nbsp;So, in addition to technical blog posts, I been putting down more of my experiences and lessons learned on the interpersonal side of the IT career path. &nbsp;My top ten blog posts for the year reflect some of that new direction:</p><ul style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;"><li><a href="http://kevinekline.com/2012/08/13/do-you-have-one-of-the-three-ws-to-sit-on-a-board-of-directors/">Do You Have One of "the Three W’s" to Sit on a Board of Directors?</a>&nbsp; -- Important tips for any IT pro considering a role in strategy and executive leadership.</li><li><a href="http://kevinekline.com/2012/09/05/timewarp-what-is-a-relational-database/">Timewarp: What Is a Relational Database?</a>&nbsp;-- With all the talk about NoSQL databases, let's go back to the fundamentals.</li><li><a href="http://kevinekline.com/2012/02/22/want-another-reason-to-hate-itunes/">Want Another Reason to Hate iTunes?</a>&nbsp;-- A throw-away article that precipitated a maelstrom of comments. Them Apple fanboys are&nbsp;<em>passionate!</em></li><li><a href="http://kevinekline.com/2012/03/09/why-do-it-pros-make-awful-managers/">Why Do IT Pros Make Awful Managers?</a>&nbsp;-- Not all IT pros make awful managers, but when they're awful it's often for similar reasons.</li><li><a href="http://kevinekline.com/2012/07/26/high-availability-white-papers-and-resources-for-sql-server/">High-Availability White Papers and Resources for SQL Server</a>&nbsp;-- Read the latest about AlwaysOn Availability Groups, and more.</li><li><a href="http://kevinekline.com/2012/04/25/new-white-paper-sql-server-extended-events-and-notifications/">New White Paper: SQL Server Extended Events and Notifications</a>&nbsp;-- SQL Server 2012 great augments the Extended Events feature set. Find out how.</li><li><a href="http://kevinekline.com/2012/05/03/build-your-own-microsoft-operations-manager-pack/">Build Your Own Microsoft Operations Management Pack</a>&nbsp;-- Resources to build out your own SCOM management pack.</li><li><a href="http://kevinekline.com/2012/09/12/help-me-update-the-history-of-sql-server/">Help Me Update the History of SQL Server</a>&nbsp;-- I started with SQL Server when it was still an OS/2 product. Jeesh! Lots of versions have come out since then.</li><li>TIE:&nbsp;<a href="http://kevinekline.com/2012/06/28/recorded-webcast-available-extend-scom-to-optimize-sql-server-performance-management/">Recorded Webcast Available: Extend SCOM to Optimize SQL Server Performance Management</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://kevinekline.com/2012/03/19/the-experts-conference-tec-for-ad-sharepoint-exchange-powershell-and-other-admins/">The Expert's Conference (TEC) - For AD, SharePoint, Exchange, PowerShell and Other Admins</a>&nbsp;-- Pointers to a webcast about extending SCOM and the TEC conference.</li><li><a href="http://kevinekline.com/2012/07/11/a-fond-farewell-to-quest-software/">A Fond Farewell to Quest Software</a>&nbsp;-- I learned&nbsp;<em>so much</em>&nbsp;in 10 years at Quest Software.</li></ul><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">As I mentioned in the opening paragraph about blogging, I'm putting more energy into best practices for professional growth among IT pros. &nbsp;Along those lines of thought, I started a website called&nbsp;<a href="http://www.foritpros.com/">ForITPros.com</a>&nbsp;with my long-time friend Joe Webb (<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/joewebb">Twitter</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://www.webbtechsolutions.com/blog">Blog</a>) and, in partnership with&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sswug.org/">SSWUG</a>, developed a 2-DVD set and streaming media class called&nbsp;<a title="Kevin E. Kline's Leadership Skills for IT Professionals" href="http://www.vconferenceonline.com/event/sessions.aspx?id=671">Leadership Skills for IT Professionals</a>&nbsp;containing 14 hours of leadership and soft skills training specifically crafted for IT teams.</p><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">I've also been working with PASS on the Professional Development Virtual Chapter (VC), led by Mark Caldwell (<a href="http://twitter.com/ajarnmark">Twitter</a>). &nbsp;We've already got a full year of content schedule and are trying to figure out how fit in more sessions. &nbsp;Maybe moving to more than one webcast per month? &nbsp;The&nbsp;<a href="http://professionaldevelopment.sqlpass.org/Blog/authorid/33179.aspx">PASS Professional Development VC archive</a>&nbsp;has lots of great content for you to review and future sessions are detailed at the&nbsp;<a href="http://professionaldevelopment.sqlpass.org/">PASS Professional Development VC homepage</a>.</p><h2 style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">In-Person Activity</h2><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">2012 was busy where I actually appeared in person or put in a big effort to write or create content. &nbsp;Here's a run-down: Articles (2),&nbsp;Conference Spoken (12),&nbsp;Customer Calls (88),&nbsp;Customer Visits (4),&nbsp;Magazine Columns (14) at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sqlmag.com/blogcontent/seriespath/tool-time-blog-16">SQLMag.com</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.dbta.com/Authors/3536-Kevin-Kline.htm">DBTA.com</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://kevinekline.com/bibliography/">New Books (1) with Ross Mistry</a>, PASS Chapter Presentations (12),&nbsp;Pre-cons/Full-day Seminars (4),&nbsp;<a title="SQL Saturday, presented by the Professional Association for SQL Server" href="http://www.sqlsaturday.com/">SQL Saturdays</a>&nbsp;(4),&nbsp;<a title="SQL Server Worldwide User Group" href="http://www.sswug.org/">SSWUG</a>&nbsp;Sessions (4), TechNet Radio Broadcasts (2), Technical Book Reviews (3), and&nbsp;Webcasts (10).</p><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">In 2013, I expect to travel a bit less. &nbsp;But I also expect to do many more webcasts. &nbsp;Let me know if you have some ideas about what you'd like to learn! &nbsp;One business trip that I refuse to give up, though, is&nbsp;<a href="http://sqlcruise.com/2013-cruises/">SQLCruise</a>. &nbsp;(Register!) &nbsp;I know it sounds like the&nbsp;<em>worst possible way to learn</em>. I mean who'd want to learn on a cruise ship in the Caribbean?!? &nbsp;(I hope you could detect the sarcasm dripping from those two sentences.) &nbsp;But here are two favorite aspects of of SQLCruise that are totally ferreals - 1) You simultaneously can relax and focus on learning. &nbsp;You are disconnected from the mainland. &nbsp;You don't have to worry about the mobile phone going off. &nbsp;2) You get extended ours in a intimate setting with&nbsp;<em>the top talent in the SQL Server world</em>. &nbsp;It's always a pleasure to attend a conference session from the best in the industry. &nbsp;But you'll get&nbsp;<em>hours&nbsp;</em>of time to talk with these veterans of the industry about your specific problems and situations. &nbsp;It just doesn't get better than that.</p><h2 style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">Social Media</h2><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">It's hard to believe that only a year ago,&nbsp;2011, was my first year on&nbsp;<a title="Kevin Kline's twitter feed" href="http://twitter.com/kekline">Twitter</a>. By years end, here's where my stats had moved: 5,507 tweets (up from 3,452 tweets), 661 following (up from 531), &nbsp;and 3,720 followers (up from 2,656) . &nbsp;I didn't check my social media numbers last year, so I've got no point of comparison. But I'm currently sitting at 2,327 LinkedIn connections and 1,157 Facebook friends. &nbsp;One of my standing policies on Facebook is that I don't "friend" someone who I haven't personally met. &nbsp;That doesn't help detangle the hopeless mess I've created by having only one identify on Facebook, both personal and public. &nbsp;So, on the one hand, I owe all of my longtime friends a big apology for all of the SQL talk and, on the other hand, a big apology to all of my professional friends for not posting&nbsp;<em>enough&nbsp;</em>news and advice while dilute my status updates with personal minutia. Oh well - it is what it is.</p><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">My blogging activity for 2012 was the lowest it's been in many years, down to 44 entries, down from 77 in 2011 and well into the hundreds in 2010. &nbsp;My answer to that sort of&nbsp;doldrums for 2013 is to get sloppy! And by that, I mean less of a perfectionist and more of a content machine that&nbsp;<em>just cranks it out</em>! &nbsp;Most of you, as my readers, have been very forgiving of a misplaced verb, a missing punctuation, or -heck- a totally malformed sentence that makes no sense at all. &nbsp;So I'm going to try much harder to churn through&nbsp;the 700+ nascent blog posts in my notes folder and get those ideas out there!</p><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">I hope to see you following me on&nbsp;<a title="Kevin Kline's twitter feed" href="http://twitter.com/kekline">Twitter</a>&nbsp;soon! Thanks,</p><p style="font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif;line-height:19px;">-Kevin</p>